1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, a print control method, and a print control program for controlling barcode printing.
2. Related Art
In barcode printing, printing conditions such as a sheet type, print density, and the like might affect the quality of a printed bar code. In view of this fact, a printing apparatus that is capable of printing a bar code in high quality by setting printing conditions that are suitable for barcode printing is known in the art. For example, a printing apparatus that is disclosed in JP-A-2006-224350 finds a type of sheets that is suitable for barcode printing and then prints a barcode image thereon, thereby achieving high-quality barcode printing. As another example, a printing apparatus that is disclosed in JP-A-2006-256106 automatically changes the bar width of a bar code so as to ensure that the highest barcode read rate is obtained. By this means, the printing apparatus of the related art achieves high-quality barcode printing.
A separate printing function is known as a function of a printing apparatus as described in, for example, JP-A-8-278723 and JP-A-2003-114598. In separate printing, longitudinal printing and lateral printing are performed alternately. Printing is performed with a sheet of paper being oriented in a longitudinal direction (e.g., portrait orientation) in the longitudinal printing. Printing is performed with a sheet of paper being oriented in a lateral direction (e.g., landscape orientation) in the lateral printing. Printed sheets of paper are then ejected with orientation being alternated between longitudinal orientation and lateral orientation for the purpose of sorting. The separate printing function makes it possible to automatically sort printed sheets with an orientation switchover for every copy or every print job, which saves the trouble of manual sorting. Therefore, the separate printing function is very useful and convenient function for a user.
However, when a printer performs barcode printing while switching paper orientation over between a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction alternately, the print quality of bar codes that are outputted as a result of longitudinal printing may differ from the print quality of bar codes that are outputted as a result of lateral printing. When a barcode reader is used to scan these bar codes, the read rate of bar codes printed by one of the longitudinal printing and the lateral printing could be lower than the read rate of bar codes printed by the other. That is, there is a possibility that the print quality of bar codes deteriorates when alternate longitudinal/lateral paper-orientation switchover ejection is applied to barcode printing.